The islands are all uninhabited except Chatham Islands, Stewart Island, Niue, Cook Islands and Tokelau. The remaining outlying islands are called Minor Islands.

There is a manned meteorological station on Raoul Island of the Kermadec Islands. The meteorological station on Campbell Island has been unmanned and automated since 1995. There was a meteorological station on the Auckland Islands from 1942 to 1945. The Three Kings Islands and the Auckland Islands were formerly inhabited. There have been failed settlement attempts on Raoul Island, the Antipodes Islands and the Auckland Islands. The Solander Islands have never been inhabited except by shipwrecked sailors or marooned stowaways (for the longest period, from 1808 to 1813 by five European stowaways).